@article{a12c82bea16f4c0392255d1a5013f7f1,
title = "Empirical Evaluation of the Factorial Structure of Attention In Adolescent Psychiatric Patients",
abstract = "Adolescent psychiatric inpatients (N = 278) were examined with a structured battery of measures of attentional functioning. The factorial structure of the attentional performance was then examined through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Two conceptually related models of attentional functioning were compared to null and unifactorial comparison models. One of the conceptual models, previously described in a series of studies by Mirsky, separates attentional functions into four factors and the other conceptual model, developed by the present authors, collapses two of Mirsky's factors into one. Both of the substantive models fit the data with the four-factor model failing to improve substantially on the simpler three-factor model. These data provide support for the validity of the Mirsky model of attention and suggest that these factors merit further research to validate the brain localization hypotheses that underlie them.",
author = "Pogge, {David L.} and Stokes, {John M.} and Harvey, {Philip D.}",
note = "Funding Information: Attentional functions are of substantial interest in the investigation of both psychopathological and neuropsychological syndromes. Recently, there have been efforts directed at the neurological localization of these attentional functions, and several important models of the psychopathology of major mental disorders have incorporated specific formulations regarding both the nature and the neuroanatomical location of disruptions in attentional functioning (e.g., Braff & Geyer, 1990; Mjrsky, Anthony, Duncan, Ahearn, & Kellam, 1991; Posner, Early, Reiman, Pardo, & Dhawan, 1988; Weinberger, 1987). Key studies in this area have relied upon common neuropsychological tests, such as the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (e.g., Weinberger, Berman, & Illowsky, 1988; Weinberger, Ber-man, & Zec, 1986), while others have employed specific experimental tasks (e.g., Braff & Huey, 1988). While some studies (e.g., Posner et al., 1988) used only a single highly specific and simple test, other investigators have used a battery of measures of attentional functions in order to identify the various subprocesses operating within the attentional sphere (e.g., Mirsky, 1987; Mirsky et al., 1991). In the Mirsky studies, a set of common neuropsychological measures of attentional functions were applied to several different samples of subjects. These tests have then been used to generate a heuristic model of the factorial structure and the brain localization of the attentional functions, through the convergence of statistical evidence and previous information regarding localization of these functions. The original model was generated through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), specifically using the method of principal components analysis (PCA). The same factor structure has been replicated with several different inpatient and outpatient popu- * This research was supported by the Four Winds Foundation and NIDA Grant R03 DA08162-01. We would like to thank Dr. Alan Mirsky for his comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. Address reprint requests to: Philip D. Harvey, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry, Box 1229, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA.",
year = "1994",
month = jun,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1080/01688639408402645",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "16",
pages = "344--353",
journal = "Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology",
issn = "1380-3395",
publisher = "Psychology Press Ltd",
number = "3",
}